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Ever since the iPhone first came out, I have been a very vocal opponent. I even railed against it in a blog entry I posted on my Myspace and my Funformobile page. I won't repost it here because it's very outdated. However, my attitude about the iPhone itself has changed and I now very much want one. But I am still a vocal advocate against doing so.
The biggest reason I railed against it for so long was because it couldn't do any of the things that modern cell phones do. It even lacked many features that freebie phones offer. Yet it cost as much as a computer when it came out. But the press still called it an "innovator" while it was a decade behind the times in technology. Bloggers and reporters raved about its features as if they'd never heard of it before, even though smartphones had been doing it since the 90's. Millions of blissfully ignorant people lined up in droves to pay the price for a computer and get a phone that didn't do anything but make calls and go to web pages. You couldn't even download apps and games on it. Even the hardware features on it were very basic(i.e. the sub par camera, lack of a memory card slot, no upgradeable battery, etc.).
On top of all this, it was locked down under Apple's Nazi like control they maintain over all their hardware, despite the hundreds or thousands of dollars you spent to make it yours. Explaining this would require a whole new blog entry, but if you do some research, you'll see what I mean.
It was unbelievable that a company would make a phone so lacking in everything and shocking that so many people were dumb enough to buy it, let alone at such jaw dropping prices. It's a phenomenon I will never understand.
Image by Johnny Vulkan via Flickr
So all this supposed revolution in technology was really good for was using it as a basic, no frills phone. Yet on AT&T's network, it was barely even able to do that. Lots of phone manufacturers put in the time and effort to make quality products and yet were edged out by a corporate giant that half assed its way through its first foray into the market. This, coupled with the arrogance iPhone users exhibited, just infuriated me. It was exemplary of the way people will mindlessly follow each other like zombie cattle, do foolish things just to be trendy, and believe without question every morsel of biased and untrue data the media spoon feeds them then spew it back out as fact.
While this is admittedly off topic, I can state from two years of personal experience that what you read and hear in the media is rarely completely true. No matter how true the information may have started out, it still has to go through a human filter before it reaches the printed page or the airwaves. In most cases, it goes through a few filters. All writers put their own slant on stories even if they do not intend to. It's an inevitable part of human nature. After the writer puts his flavor on it, the editor adds some exaggerated or half true sensationalism to it before you ever see it. So all those reporters who were so excited about their new iPhone, raved about it to the masses who gobbled it up as fact and believed it even after they learned of the phone's short comings.
However, all of this has changed now. With the release of the two subsequent versions of the iPhone, Apple has brought the device into the current decade. The new 3Gs still lacks some of the things smartphones have been doing for years, but it now has most of them and all of the most important ones. So it is now finally a device that meets most of the basic requirements to be called a smartphone, even for a tech geek like me. Even the price is now reasonable.
However, it is still not a device worth your money for several reasons. Most of all is AT&T's pathetic service. If you click the link above, you'l read three articles that explain just the tip of the iceberg of problems that people have had trying to use the iPhone as a phone. Ever since day one there have been vocal complaints about it. I know two people personally with iPhones that can't even get through a call without it dropping. One of them switched to Boost Mobile, where even on the outdated iDen network he has better coverage. The iPhone does not function adequately as a phone, which is its primary purpose despite everything else you can do with it. With AT&T, you'll pay more for service on this thing than you would on a phone that actually works. Plus, those great new features that finally bring it into modern times such as tethering and MMS, won't work on AT&T's network. So your new iPhone 3Gs that you're paying extra to not use as a phone, won't even do what it's capable of.
The next big reason it's a pointless waste of money to invest in an iPhone is the iPod Touch. The Touch is an iPhone without the useless phone radio in it. It will run any and all iPhone apps and looks identical because it is. It's the exact same hardware. It is lacking the camera, but rumor has it there will be a version of it this fall with a camera. So as long as you've got a wifi connection and the iPhone 3.0 software update on your Touch, you've got an iPhone. You'll pay about as much up front for the Touch as you would an iPhone and then you own it outright. There's no two year contract to fulfill for it be considered yours and no monthly service fee. You can spend that money on a Windows Mobile phone on a CDMA network (CDMA has much faster data speeds and far better coverage) and run an app called "Walking Hotspot" that uses your phone's data connection and puts up a portable personal wifi hotspot. So with that, you can use your Touch online anywhere you are. Then you have a working phone and all the goodness of an iPhone. So for less money, you get everything the iPhone gives you, plus all the thousands of Windows Mobile apps out there. You in fact get more for the money because then you have a working phone and when you're playing on your iPod, you don't have to be interrupted by calls or messages. (If you're on an internet app on the Touch you will be interrupted by calls however, becasue CDMA carriers won't allow you to be on a voice call and a data connection at the same time)
So in its present form, there is no practical reason to waste money getting an iPhone. It just isn't necessary or practical. In a year or more, there will be a version of the iPhone on Verizon. Then you can have an iPhone and a phone combined into one unit and a reliable network to run it on. In the meantime, an iPod Touch and a phone works just as well. Many people say that means carrying two devices, which they don't want to do. I consider this a good thing actually but then again, I'm a tech geek. I have also found since getting my iPod Touch five months ago that over time I use my phone less and less and my Touch more and more. Even for features that are duplicated on both devices, I like doing them more on the iPod. So there are two schools of thought on that and both are right, but the way AT&T is, carrying a phone and a Touch is the only option that's practical and user friendly.
In conclusion, I will concede that the hardware and apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch are light years superior to anything else on the market. The touch screen is remarkably sensitive, the hardware feels solid and is actually built out of metal and glass (though this is expensive to repair) and the apps and games on it are far beyond anything I ever expected to see on a phone for many years. The hardware on the 3Gs is up to par now and ordinarily would be the best choice of phones out there. But AT&T's network is a deal breaker. In terms of being an innovator, there is only thing that the iPhone changed about technology: phone manufacturers are now afraid to make a phone that isn't touch screen. It's debatable if this is a positive change.
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